Legislative Roll Call | PUBLIC RECORDS | Feb. 11 - Feb. 15

WASHINGTON - Here’s how area members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending Feb. 15.

HOUSE

FEDERAL WORKERS’ PAY FREEZE: Voting 261 for and 154 against, the House on Feb. 15 passed a Republican bill (HR 273) to freeze federal workers’ pay through Dec. 31, thus denying a 0.5 percent increase set for March 27. This would extend a pay freeze that began in January 2011 for the two million U.S. civil servants. The bill also would extend until year’s end a pay freeze for members of Congress that started in January 2009.

FILIBUSTER AGAINST CHUCK HAGEL: By a vote of 58 for and 40 against, the Senate on Feb. 15 failed to reach 60 votes for ending a Republican filibuster against the nomination of Chuck Hagel as the nation’s 24th secretary of defense. Hagel, 66, served in the Army in Vietnam in 1967-68, receiving two Purple Hearts as an infantry squad leader, and was a Republican senator from Nebraska for two terms ending in 2008. He has drawn opposition from Republicans unhappy with his comments on U.S. policies toward Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel and who also objected to the administration’s handling of the terrorist attack last October on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and its aftermath.

A yes vote was to advance the nomination.

INDIANA

Voting yes: Joe Donnelly, D

Voting no: Dan Coats, R

KENTUCKY

Voting no: Mitch McConnell, R, Rand Paul, R

ILLINOIS

Voting yes: Dick Durbin, D

Voting no: Mark Kirk, R

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT: Voting 78 for and 22 against, the Senate on Feb. 12 approved a five-year extension of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a 1994 law designed to prevent domestic and dating violence, stalking and sexual assaults and help victims recover when those crimes occur. The bill (S 47) expands VAWA to cover gays, lesbians and transsexuals while empowering tribal courts to prosecute and issue protection orders against non-indigenous people accused of assaulting Native American and Alaska native women in their native communities. The bill also provides funding to help police departments reduce large backlogs in laboratory testing of DNA evidence taken from rape victims.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

INDIANA

Voting yes: Donnelly, Coats

KENTUCKY

Voting no: McConnell, Paul

ILLINOIS

Voting yes: Durbin, Kirk

AUTHORITY OF TRIBAL COURTS: Voting 31 for and 59 against, the Senate on Feb. 11 refused to strip S 47 (above) of a section allowing tribal courts to prosecute non-Indians in cases of domestic violence on Indian reservations. Under present law, the only recourse for these victims is to turn to distant state and federal courts and police for protection against non-Indian assailants. Critics said the expanded tribal authority should be removed from the bill because it would deny basic constitutional protection to non-Indians on reservations.